The present invention relates to a fertilizing composition, to a method for its use in breaking up and fertilizing compacted and heavy soils, such as clay, and to a moisture-retaining, stratified bed for plant cultivation which makes use of the fertilizing composition.
Clay is an extremely fine-grained, hydrated and water-retaining material which is very difficult to work, from an agricultural point of view, because of its close, heavy texture and its infertility, the latter being due to its high acidity and low air-content which prevent the bacterial activity which breaks down less acid soils. Since clay, or heavy soils with a high clay content, cover wide areas of the countryside, farmers have been attempting to find easy methods of improving their structure and fertility for centuries but, until now, improvement has been achieved only by laborious mechanical breaking of the clay surface and repeated application of alkaline materials, such as lime, to reduce the acidity, and manure to increase the humus content and improve the texture.
Other soils which have become compacted, for example as a result of the use of heavy vehicles thereon, provide similar problems when it is desired to use them for agricultural purposes.